Some background. I did have reservations about this guitar, so much so that some will wonder why I risked the purchase; viz:
- fret size - I like big, I wasn't sure these would be big enough
- neck size - the neck on this was described as quite chunky, I usually prefer slim
- birds - I've never been super keen on them
So why buy? basically a lot of specs on this I really do like, and it's harder than you might think to get them all on the same guitar. Specifically:
- PRS QC so much better than Gibsons IMO (and I own 3 nice Gibsons)
- Gibson scale length v the 25" on most PRS
- very light weight for a guitar broadly in the Les Paul camp at around 7.25lbs
- no break angle where the strings leave the nut. You tend to get this even on most high end boutique guitars inspired by Gibson and I don't like it
- DGT type coil tapping options
- locking tuners as standard
- by PRS's standards at least, relatively old school aesthetics in the colour (McCarty burst) shape and f hole.
- relatively low output, traditional sounding pickups
Initial thoughts: It's pretty much as good as
new. Peach mentioned slight buckle rash in their ad but without examining it
under a spotlight or with a magnifying glass I honestly haven't been
able to detect it.
The fit and finish ooze quality. Sumptuous.
I've only played it through a practice amp and
won’t really get a proper handle on the tones until I play it through a bigger
amp at a rehearsal or gig, but it's a bit like a lighter/airer/slightly
more refined LP with switching options to add sonic versatility. I don't tend to get deep into minor tonal differences between broadly similar sounding guitars, and I've no doubt that this guitar will give me all the tones I would hope for from a good double humbucker equipped guitar.
How about my reservations? My first attempts at playing the guitar didn't remove all doubts. I'm a 9s player who likes as low an action and as little relief as I can get away with (minor arthritis issues), and the guitar arrived nicely set up but with 10s and a slightly higher action and a little more relief in the neck than is normal for me. I didn't want to fiddle with any of that stuff until I was sure I was definitely keeping the guitar. That plus the neck being a tad bulkier than I'm used to and the fret wire being a little flatter than I'm used to (I have 6100 on most of my guitars) made the guitar feel a little awkward. For the first few days I went back and fore on it.
But I could sense the quality was there, the feel wasn't TOO far away and I knew I could improve things significantly with a change of strings and a bit of tweaking.
Since I decided it was a keeper, I haven't looked back. Strings changed, 10 minutes of tweaking and it now has the lowest, buzz free action I've achieved on any guitar and is probably just about the easiest to play. Over the past 2 or 3 days I've just been loving it. The niggles recede further into the distance every time I
pick it up. I might even be a big neck guy after all.
There may be a point in the future where I'm tempted to put on bigger frets, but meantime these are just fine - in terms of ease of playing the low action and scale length more than offset not quite having my optimal fret size.
I’ve owned and sold 2 excellent DGTs in an attempt to cover broadly similar
territory but this is easily the pick of the three guitars, better aesthetically for me and of course it's not easy to find a DGT as light as this.
The link below is to Peach's original ad for the guitar which has some pics and a demonstration video by a superb player.
https://www.peachguitars.com/prs-sc594-mccarty-semi-hollow-10-top-used.htm
Comments
Which neck profile is it ? I've been tempted by some of the PRS single cuts / 245 but put off by the fact none of them come with a thin neck, as I tend to find larger necks quite tiring to play.
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